Means for closing a horizontally swinging door of a railway hopper car



Nov. 11, 1958 a. B. DOREY 2,359,708

MEANS FOR CLOSING A BORIZONTALLY SWINGING DOOR OF A RAILWAY HOPPER .CARFiled July 21, 1953 ZSheets-Sheet 1 w R.0 QM g a v mwww K mm w m mm Q 0A m mm m mm Q m k! M m Q .H. I J/%\ Nov. 11, 1958 ca. 8. DOREY 2,859,708mums FQR CLOSING A HORIZONTALLY swmcmc Filed July 21, 1955 DOOR OF ARAILWAY HOPPER CAR 1 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

Geo/gel? Dorqy- United States Patent Ofifice 2,859,708- Patented Nov.11, 1958 MEANS FOR CLOSING A HORIZONTALLY SWING- ING DOOR OF A RAILWAYHOPPER CAR.

George B. Dorey, Westmount, Quebec, Canada, assignor to' EnterpriseRailway Equipment Company, Chicago, 11L; a corporation of IllinoisApplication July 21',v 1953,. Serial No. 369,359

9 Claims; (Cl. 14105-286) This invention relates to improved hopper doorclosing means including fulcrums for receivinga removable bar for thepurpose of closing a horizontally swinging door of'a railway hopper carby a downward movement of? the. operating. bar.

The. invention. contemplates the employment of fulcrum abutmentscarried. by. a door and its supporting hopper structure with the.fulcrums located in close proximity to the hinge axis of the .door.andthe respective fulcrums located. in: spaced relationadjacent thehinge axis of the door to accommodate a removable operating bartherebetween.

The objects of the invention, among others, are: To provide abutmentswhich may be readily applied to existing equipment and convenientlylocated adjacent the ends of the doors adjacent a car side wall; toprovide fulcrum means for receiving an operating bar which will retainthe bar in a door closing direction only and preclude the use of suchfulcrum means asa means for initiating opening movement of the door inthe event of frozen lading and thus ensure against the employment of thefulcrums in an unauthorized manner; and the invention further resides inthe details of construction concerned with the invention.

In the accompanying drawings the invention is shown as applied to thependulantly mounted door of a hopper car.

Figure 1 is a side elevational view of a portion of a hopper car showingthe improvement applied to the door and hopper structure of a so-calledW-type of hopper car, said view showing the door in the normally openpendent position and showing a removable bar positioned between therespective fulcrurns.

Figure 2 is a frontal elevational view of the structure shown in Figure1, said view showing approximately onehalf the width of the lowerportion of a hopper car and showing the removable bar as positionedbetween the fulcrums and said bar shown in section;

Figure 3 is a vertical side view of the hopper with the door in closedposition and the lower portion of the door and hopper broken away tobetter illustrate the latch parts.

Figure 4 is a detached longitudinal elevational view of an angle-shapedmember carried by the hopper and providing one of the fulcrum seats;

Figure 5 is an end elevational view of the angle-shaped member shown inFigure 4;

Figure 6 is a detached longitudinal elevational view of the plate membercarried by the door and providing the other fulcrum seat;

Figure 7 is an end elevational view of the plate member shown in Figure6.

Referring now to the drawings, 10 indicates the center sill of the car,11 one of the car side walls, 12 a hopper positioned between the centersill and side wall and including a downwardly sloping floor 13 and innerand outer side walls as indicated at 14 and 15, respectively. Extendingaround the floor and side walls is a frame 16 the edge portion of whichdefines the margins of a discharge opening 17. The frame includes anupper beam portion 18 which underlies an upper floor 19 slopingdownwardlyflin a direction opposite to the lower sloping floor 13.

The upper beam member 18 includesa pair'of hinge butts 2'0'20"which areapertured to receive door hinging pintles 21. Pivotally mounted on thepintles 21 are a pair of door hinges 22-22 to which is riveted orotherwise secured the door 23. The marginal edgesv of the door 23 areflanged as indicated at 24 to form a pan-shaped door for enclosingftheframe 16 when the door 23 is in closed position. The door 23, when inclosed position, is swung thereto upwardly,,asi shown in Figure 3 to lieat. an angle from the vertical plane and to meet with the edge portionof the frame 16. The door" 23may be retained in closed position by asuitable mechanism. A type. of latching mechanism with which" theinstantdnventionmay be employed consists of'a hook-shaped member 25having a shouldered portion' 26 extending through the door 23 forcooperation witlra latching ban 27 pivotally mounted on the door on apivot '28 and biased by gravity to lie normally'in the' plane of theshoulder 26 when the door 23 is closed. Leading to the shoulder 26 thereis an inclined striker surface 29 which is adapted to engage thelatching bar 27 and raise the same from its biased normally latchingposition as the door is swung to closed position.

The invention herein is concerned particularly with the means employedfor swinging the door 23 towards its closed position and resides in theemployment of abutments carried by the beam portion 18 of the frame 16and the door 23, respectively. Each includes an abutment or barreceiving seat as indicated at 31 and 32, respectively. The barreceiving seats 31 and 32 are spaced apart a sufficient distance toaccommodate a removable operating bar 33 therebetween. The bar receivingseat 31 is located substantially in alignment with the pivotal axis ofthe door 23. The cooperating bar receiving seat 32 is disposed on thedoor 33 and spaced appreciably from the bar receiving seat 31.

The bar receiving seat 31, carried by the frame 16, preferably isprovided by an angle-shaped member 34 having one wall 35 welded as at 36or otherwise secured by rivets to the underside of the upper beamportion 18 of the frame 16. The adjacent wall 37 extends substantiallynormal to the wall 35 and its central portion is preferably coped as at38 to present an indent 39 the edge of which constitutes the abutment orbar receiving seat 31.

The bar receiving seat 32, carried by the door 23, is preferablyprovided by a plate member 40 welded as at 41 or otherwise secured byrivets to the outer surface of the door 23. The plate member 40 ispreferably extended to project upwardly beyond the body of the door 23,as at 42, and the central portion 43 of said projecting portion 42 ofthe plate member 40 is deformed to present an indent 44 adapted toregister with the indent 39 of the member 34. Said indents 39 and 43together virtually constitute an elongated opening within which theremovable bar 33 is held against undue sidewise displacement whilepermitting it to be positioned at a substantial distance away from aposition perpendicular to the hinge axis of the door 23.

The operation of the device will be readily understood by reference toFigures 1 and 3 which show the door 23 in open and closed positions,respectively. Assuming the door 23 is in the position shown in Figure 1,the operator, standing outwardly beyond the side wall 11 of the car,inserts the removable bar 33 between the respective bar receiving seats31 and 32 as indicated and, by a downward pressure on the outer end ofthe bar 33,

3 the door 23 is levered towards closed position to assume the positionindicated in Figure 3.

The arrangement 'of the bar receiving seats 31 and 32 is such as tolimit employment thereof to movement of the door 23 in a closingdirection only. It precludes their use to effect opening movement of thedoor 23 to release the latter in the event of a frozen load such as issometimes necessary when the lading adheres to the door plate.

The instant invention provides a simple means for closing a door and atthe same time provides a maximum of safety and convenience in operation.

What is claimed as new is:

1. In a railway car having a hopper with a discharge opening and a doorhinged to said hopper adjacent an upper side of said opening andswingable under the effect of gravity to an open position, incombination, a bar receiving member secured to said hopper adjacent saidupper side of said opening and having a downwardly facing bar receivingsurface, a bar receiving member secured to said door adjacent the hingeaxis of said door and having an upwardly facing bar receiving surface inalignment with and spaced outwardly from and below said downwardlyfacing bar receiving surface, and an operating bar at one end engagingsaid downwardly facing bar receiving surface and in spaced relationengaging said upwardly facing bar receiving surface and extendingoutwardly from said bar receiving member on said door.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein the bar receivingmember on the hopper is an angle shaped member having one wall securedto the hopper and another wall extending outwardly of the hopper andcarrying the downwardly facing bar receiving surface.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein the downwardly facingbar receiving surface lies substantially along the hinge axis of thedoor.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein the bar receivingsurfaces are located along the bottoms of coped sections of the barreceiving members.

5. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein the bar receivingmember on the door is a plate member having an outwardly extendingflange carrying the upwardly facing bar receiving surface.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 11,597Bullard Aug. 29, 1854 1,210,144 Butts Dec. 26, 1916 1,620,023 HosceitMar. 8, 1927 1,933,384 Moylan Oct. 31, 1933 2,500,865 Radis Mar. 14,1950 2,588,219 Dorey Mar. 4, 1952 2,609,758. Koranda Sept. 9, 1952

